This invention relates to a measuring device appertaining more particularly to a raw pasta measurer for selecting the quantity of raw pasta (e.g. spaghetti, vermicelli, etc.) required to produce the desired amount of the cooked product.
Measuring devices of a wide variety are known that provide a flexible member calibrated for some particular purpose such as measuring fabrics, the length of portions of knitted articles, lumber, land, etc. See Canadian Pats. Nos. 7,318; 185,952; 332,692 and 358,400; and also U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,587. None of these suggest a device which is suitable for accurately measuring a handful of dry spaghetti-type pasta of a given length to determine the quantity to be cooked to provide the desired amount of the end cooked product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,369, issued July 29, 1980, to the present applicants, describes and claims one suitable measurer. The present application provides a substantial improvement over this earlier device.
With the growing recognition of using pasta as a reliable food for improving nutrition, interest has increased in the proper cooking of the product. Some domestic manufacturers recommend that spaghetti be cooked in salted water eight times the weight of the spaghetti. From a scientific standpoint this is an inadequate amount of water, a minimum ratio of 10:1 should be used. Furthermore the addition of salt is a mistake as it lengthens the cooking time by 10-20 percent and increases the pasta stickiness. So both these recommendations of the manufacturers are undesirable.
When it comes to properly cooking pasta the consumer is at a real disadvantage, being without both the essential equipment and the knowledge, and lacking even simple quantity measuring procedure with the result that some considerable food wastage results.